Letter reveals how child molester James Lamb planned to manipulate system

Serial child molester James Lamb thought they'd figured it out, the elusive loophole that would free him completely from the state Sexually Violent Predator Program.

He was so pleased he had even shared it with another child molester in a letter from the Monterey County Jail. He just wasn't clever enough to remember that jail mail is censored.

The letter, revealed to The Herald on Friday, landed Lamb back in Coalinga State Hospital, where he may remain indefinitely.

The next move is in the hands of Judge Adrienne Grover. Her choices over the future of a man who has molested dozens of children present risk and potential political fallout.

Grover was scheduled to sentence Lamb on Friday, his 53rd birthday, for failing to register as a sex offender last year. She delayed that decision until July 17 to ask for supplemental evaluations by the Department of Mental Health and the county Probation Department.

Committed to the state program in 1998, Lamb had been living on River Road outside Salinas under the stringent supervision of Liberty Health Care, which manages the "conditional release" phase of the state program.

One of the conditions of that release is that Lamb register every 90 days as a sex offender. In September, he missed his deadline, was arrested and booked into Monterey County Jail.

As originally charged, Lamb was facing a potential life sentence under the three strikes law. Prosecutor Angela McNulty and Grover eventually reduced his exposure to a maximum three-year sentence.

He was scheduled for a pretrial hearing and possible settlement of the case in late March. On March 8, he put pencil to paper and considerably changed his outlook.

"Hey, Bud! Finally, some news that rates as positive," Lamb wrote in a letter to a fellow child predator.

"We (sic) set for Mar. 20 for pretrial. We will enter a no contest plea and accept a deal. Our offer will be the low term of 16 months. (Note: They are likely expecting us to want the probation option, bringing me back to the street under Liberty and probation.) NOT happening. Here's what my attorney laid out to me."

Lamb then proceeded to tell his friend how he would likely serve only half of any prison sentence because his crime wasn't violent. He'd already served six months awaiting trial, leaving only two to three months actual prison time followed by six months of parole.

But the best part, he said, is that the prison sentence would end his commitment to the Sexually Violent Predator Program and, once paroled, he would be a free man with no "SVP label," required to register only once a year.

The explanation was punctuated with an exclamation point and "smiley face."

"This is an avenue for freedom no one had considered," he continued. "I know you've been wondering how we might find a loophole. This is in (sic). I'll slip through the cracks, and vacate this talon-hold that Liberty and D.M.H command.

"People can then refer to the Lamb case. Amazing huh?"

Prosecutor McNulty realized the true magnitude of the letter when she did an Internet search on the recipient's name, "Bruce Vail," and learned it was an alias for Bruce Lee Clotfelter, a serial molester who was living in Napa without supervision after being released from the Sexually Violent Predator Program.

Clotfelter had been committed to the program after multiple molestation convictions and then being caught posing as a "Top Gun" pilot named "Talon Hawk" who was volunteering his mentoring services to local school children.

Grover was anything but amused. After reading the letter March 20, but without revealing its contents, she rebuked Lamb for manipulating the system, revoked his outpatient status and sent him back to Coalinga.

She also asked the program's director and psychiatrists to assess Lamb and determine which of the four lockdown phases of the program he'd be placed in if his outpatient status was not restored.

On Friday, she said that assessment gave no indication that the mental health experts considered Lamb's letter in reaching their conclusions.

Additionally, she said the probation officer did not appear to have considered the ramifications of a prison sentence in her sentencing recommendation. She asked for supplemental reports from each.

Grover must now weigh public safety against the court of public opinion. On July 17, she can sentence Lamb to up to three years in prison, or she can place the man who has admitted molesting about 50 children on probation and let him remain in treatment, either in Coalinga or under supervision in the county.

While the knee-jerk reaction for many would be to send the sexual predator back to prison, it would mean losing local control over his future and trusting the state Department of Mental Health to attempt to recommit Lamb to the Sexually Violent Predator program after his prison term.

It was a risk Lamb was eager to take.

His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Don Landis, declined to comment on the letter Friday evening.